Turning
by DianaxAkiraFTW
Summary: John has been away from his home for 9 months. He's counted the days, and now he's freed himself from his captors bloody and bruised, only problem is, he's on the brink of death. After lying in an alley for who knows how long, a strange man who wears shades in the middle of the night saves him, only to bring him into something even bigger than himself. Demonstuck.
1. Chapter 1 - Freedom

**Turning – Chapter 1 – Freedom**

Nine months, nine months in hell and torture from his captors, and he was finally, finally free. But he wasn't sure if that would last long.

He coughed up blood. His body was covered in black and blue, and his vision swam. John Egbert, is broken, beaten and bruised, and will probably die in ten minutes, maybe less. He wanted to go home so badly, but this wasn't his hometown, he doesn't know the street names, he doubts that he'd be able to read a phone book, let along use a phone. He closed his eyes, praying, hell, wishing that death would just come and take him already.

"Hey kid, you okay?"

John flinches and looks up at the teen that had talked to him. Short blond hair, a red and white shirt with a split record in the center, black designer jeans with black shoes and… shades? Who the hell wears shades in the middle of the night?

"P-Please don't hurt me... I-I don't want to be hurt anymore" John whimpered, not looking up at the other. "I-I don't want to go back a-and people only want to hurt me. Leave me alone I-I'll leave o-or die here but it doesn't matter j-just please go away" He coughed into his hands afterward. Whimpering softly now he pressed his head against the brick, and something warm runs down his face. He's crying. After John gave a small rub to his eyes, he turned to the man; those big blue orbs stared up terrified at the aviators.

John heard the guy sigh, and he flinched when he spoke. "Don't worry little guy, I'm not going to hurt you," John flinched again as the guy got closer to him, only shaking harder when he'd taken a notice of the teeth this other male had. Those… yeah those weren't normal. His eyes widened in fear when he realized that he couldn't go anywhere. "I'm going to make sure that you keep living." Was all the stranger said before he bit into his shoulder, and John used those beaver teeth of his to bite down on his lip to stop himself from screaming.

The stranger pulled away after a few seconds, and John opened his to talk to him, only to have the stranger to kiss him the next second. And he froze, knowing that he was probably making a face at this kid. Who the hell comes up to someone and says 'hey let me help' then bites you, then to compensate for biting you, kisses you? John tried to move back when he tasted blood, but the stranger had put his hand behind his head so that he couldn't move.

"Look," The next thing he knew, the lips were gone and in its place was the man's hand. "This next part is really going to hurt and, if I'm honest, pretty sure you're going to scream. So, don't panic if you pass out, I'm going to take you to my place after that and make sure the dickheads who did this to you pay, alright?"

He nodded in response, trembling under the hand of the blonde. Alright day so far, run away from your captors, sit beaten in an alley for nine hours, get found by a kid and ask him to go away, get kissed, bit, and now he's going to make you cry... to save you..? Right, RIGHT. In all of that, John just kept nodding.

"No need to keep nodding kid, I'm pretty sure I got the message." He said, looking around the alley anxiously, almost expecting the people who did this to jump out of thin air, much like he did. He quickly removed his hand from John's mouth. "Okay, do you remember where you came from or how far away you were from here? I think I'd be able to find out easily but I just want some reassurance here."

John nodded once again. "I-I came f-from that direction" He pointed shakily, to the north of them. "I-I don't know h-how far b-but it was run-down a-apartment complex. I-I was hidden i-in the basement that's where I l-locked the-" John's eyes clamped shut as he grabbed his shoulder. "Wh-what the hell?" He asked whimpering at first. He squeezed the wound to try and stop the pain but that didn't work so well. He cried out in pain.

To describe the pain, it would be like someone decided to pour liquid led into his shoulder, and his heart didn't know better and just continued to pump it through his veins. He began to scream out again, and was immediately grateful for the fact that the teen covered his mouth again. The burning traveled throughout his body, and it left an arousing tingle behind, before it started in his head. The pain from the previous injuries, the pain from the heat traveling through his veins, and the feeling of his brain shutting down from pain became too much, and John Egbert passed out in the care of a complete stranger who caused this pain.

Fuck.

* * *

John felt like he was reliving hell. Images of his captors beating him, spitting on him and the mental image of the stranger flew through his head, along with the painful tingling in his body made his body throb in pain. His eyes flew open when a phone went off, falling off of the couch and taking the blanket on top of him along for the ride.

A sharp pain came from his spine, and John yelped out as he took in his surroundings. There was a couch to his left which he fell off of, a couple of chairs scattered around the room, two hallways leading off to who knows where, and to his right was a coffee table with a decently large glass of water and a pill with a post-it not right by it. Sitting up a little more, he squinted and tried to make out the letters in red pen.

_hey man hopefully your awake before i get back. anyways, im gonna be dealing with the guys who did this shit to you, so dont worry your pretty little head off if im not there_

_ this is probably a shitty way to welcome you to texas but theres a glass of water that I put ice in (probably will be gone by the time you wake up) and an asprin, go ahead and swallow it, youve probably got a bad headache or body ache by now, both are kinda bad_

_ ps this is the guy who saved your ass in case you couldnt tell_

John nodded and quickly grabbed the glass and pill, swallowing it on the first go. It was at this point, he realized that he had to pee _very _badly. He stood up, shaking a little bit because of not being used to getting up and walking around for a long time. After wandering around the hallways looking in the rooms, he eventually found the bathroom and quickly went over to the toilet and opening the lid before dropping his pants and releasing the urine that had been held up in his bladder.

By the toilet there was a window and, looking out, John could see the sun peaking over the horizon. He hissed out, now knowing that he had been out longer than he thought, since it had been the middle of the night when the teen found him. He also thought about the note. So he was in Texas? That was pretty far, considering that he was captured in Washington. The captors probably moved him around state to state to make sure that they weren't caught.

After John was certain that he didn't need to pee anymore, he bent down and grabbed his pants and pulled them up, only to be stopped by something on his backside. He stood there for a few seconds before turning his head and looking down…

What the fuck. What the almighty fuck. When did he have a fucking _TAIL_ growing out of his back?! This tail wasn't like one that you'd see on a monkey either; it was like a snake tail! Deep blue scales with the occasional turquoise flicked-oh my god it _fucking moved_-back and forth, caused by his emotions of fear and bewilderment.

John stared at the new addition before turning to the full body mirror he had seen next to the sink by the entrance. He stared at his reflection a little before moving forwards. The tail was clearly attached to his backside, scales melting into the skin almost naturally. His hands, how had he not noticed it before, were slightly webbed and the nails seemed more like talons the more he looked at them.

But his _face,_ hell, his _head_ was extremely altered from its original state. His skin tone over all seemed pale, but this could just be from not being out in sunlight for who knows how long. His pupils, instead of being circles, were slit like a cat's, and the dull blue that he had grown up with was now a brilliant sky color. His ears were nearly as pointed as an elf's, and they seemed to curve upwards as well. The scariest thing though, was that on the top of his head were two horns. They were small and curved outwards, and while the initial appearance of them seemed to be nubby, they were sharpened to a point.

As John continued to panic, a breeze began to blow around his back, and the wisps of air slowly became visible; forming a shape the more John's panic lasted. He stared at his reflection in wonder as the wind seemed to solidify, and the end result was terrifying.

Wings, John had two wings, the same color as the tail, sprouting from his back. He jumped back and slammed into the wall, pain shooting up from where the wings met skin. John looked at the wings, which flapped downwards and lifted him a few inches off of the ground. That simply made John lose his balance, and he wound up sitting down again.

John curled himself into a ball and took deep breaths, trying to remain calm (even though this situation was anything but normal). The more he calmed down, the less he felt the wings presence or the sensation of seeming to have two more arms sprouting from his back. Eventually, after calming down enough, he looked back at the mirror. Not seeing the wings in his reflection, he shakily got to his feet and made his way back to the couch slowly, trying not to trip or fall over his own feet.

After making it back to the cloth surface, he laid down, quickly falling asleep, hoping that this part had all been a crazy nightmare, but that he was still free.

_**AN:**_** I would, first off, like to thank anyone reading this. This will be my first 'real' attempt at a Demonstuck story, and I hope that I will be able to continue this. Normally, when I start a story, I tend to just leave it alone after the first chapter. I do not want that to happen for this story, and I will try my best to not do my traditional banning ways.**

**This entire story, however, was inspired through a roleplay on MSPARP. The person I was Roleplaying with suddenly left (and s/he was John), so after chapter 2, I believe, it will be done on what I want to do with the story.**

**Finally, thank you for reading the first chapter of ****Turning****, and I hope that you will enjoy what is to come.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Pity

**AN: A simple note before you continue reading, my dear reader. This contains a VERY graphic scene of gore and murder. If you feel queasy or have a fear of blood and gore, then basically skip the second half of this chapter. I will put another warning when it comes to this part. **

** Turning – Chapter 2 - Pity**

Dave, being a demon, naturally hates humans. After all, they are his source of food, and some demon hunters have gotten _very_ close to killing him, so it's only natural for the demon to hate the little weaklings.

But the only thing that he hates more than the humans hurting him is when the humans hurt each other for no reason. Demons fight each other and might kill their own kind for a mate, food, territory, there's a multitude of reasons. But when humans do it it's for their currency or a vendetta (whatever the fuck that it) and it's just_ extremely_ stupid compared to what demons fight for.

So, when he sees a boy, no older than him in appearance, beaten and close to death sitting in an alley and coughing up blood while looking for some food, he can't help but feel a mix of pity and hate rise in his stomach.

Dave flash steps into a decently dark corner close enough so that he can hear the boy, but not be seen. He hides his demon attributes by muttering an incantation under his breath. Knowing that it worked, he stepped out of the shadows and into the boy's line of sight.

"Hey kid, you okay?" Dave says, noticing the flinch before he speaks.

"P-Please don't hurt me.. I-I don't want to be hurt anymore" He said, not looking up at the other. "I-I don't want to go back a-and people only want to hurt me. Leave me alone I-I'll leave o-or die here but it doesn't matter j-just please go away." He coughed into his hands, and Dave was sure that he saw crimson tinting the pale skin.

Dave sighed, his hate for the cold hearted humans growing more by the second. Demons can heal quickly and efficiently, so death is not an easy task to be accomplished, but for humans it lurked around every corner for them. "Don't worry little guy, I'm not going to hurt you." Dave says, leaning close to the boy's shoulder, feeling his teeth grow sharper the closer he got. "I'm going to make sure you keep on living, little guy." And his teeth meet flesh.

The taste of iron briefly sends Dave's mind into a fuzzy mess, being as hungry as he is, the taste of blood and flesh was welcoming to his growling stomach. But he held used a little self-restraint and then quickly pulled away; swiping his tongue over the wound and watching it close quickly. Dave bites his lip and drags his teeth against the weak skin, quickly drawing his own blood and turning towards the boy's face, kissing him.

The kiss could've been more pleasurable, but considering that he was trying to make the kid swallow his blood, pleasurable was the last thing on his mind. After a few seconds when he was pretty certain that his lips had sealed up again he pulled away and put his hand over John's mouth.

"Look," He says, looking the boy in the eyes but it obviously didn't seem like that to the weakling. "This next part is really going to hurt and, if I'm honest, pretty sure you're going to scream. So, don't panic if you pass out, I'm going to take you to my place after that and make sure the dickheads who did this to you pay, alright?" The boy nods against his hand, and he kept nodding throughout his drawn out monologue.

"No need to keep nodding kid, I'm pretty sure I got the message." He said, looking around the alley anxiously, almost expecting the people who did this to jump out of shadows much like he did. He quickly removed his hand from the boy's mouth. "Okay, do you remember where you came from or how far away you were from here? I think I'd be able to find out easily but I just want some reassurance here." Dave knew that he had only a few short seconds before the boy would begin writing in pain. He had seen previously turned humans before, every experience looked extremely painful.

"I-I came f-from that direction" He pointed shakily, to the north of them. "I-I don't know h-how far b-but it was run-down a-apartment complex. I-I was hidden i-in the basement that's where I l-locked the-" his eyes clamped shut before he can continue with his story. "Wh-what the hell?" He asked whimpering at first. He squeezed the shoulder where his bite marks were, probably the source of the pain, but that obviously wouldn't work. He cried out in pain, and Dave quickly put his hand over the teen's mouth to muffle the screams. Only a few seconds later, the boy goes limp, twitching in pain every few moments.

"God damn, normally people last longer than that..." Well, that guy must've been really fucking hurt if he didn't last more than a few seconds, hell, he didn't even scream. Normally the new Turns last a good half a minute before passing out.

Dave picked up the boy carefully, noticing the involuntary twitch when the boy's previously injured shoulder bumped against his arm. The Demon quickly flash stepped into his little apartment complex before placing the boy on his couch and grabbing a blanket to put over him. He went into his kitchen and got a glass and filled it with tap water, grabbing an aspirin on the way out. He placed it on the coffee table in front of the couch with the pill and took a post-it note and scribbled out a note for when the boy woke up. Dave grabbed a katana, his choice weapon, before flash stepping back to the alleyway. Looks like he is going to get something to eat tonight, he'll probably grab a little for the newbie as well.

* * *

The old apartments that had been abandoned on Vaquero Street for not being structurally sound are the first place that Dave thinks of when it comes to 'shitty apartments where kidnappers hide out.' Getting there without being seen, though, is more difficult than anything. This town was infamous for demon hunters, solely for his family, the Striders, high ranking demons that keep the death toll going in Houston.

Finally making it to the buildings on the street opposite, he could see every few seconds the signature flash of a flash light moving around. Before he can move another inch, the signature click of the safety of a gun goes off behind his head. Dave sighs before standing up completely and turning around, seeing the toxic eyed girl behind him with her brother.

"Ah, Miss Harley and English, to what do I owe this pleasure?" He says, giving off a signature smirk.

Jade only lifts the riffle higher, making sure that the muzzle is pointed right between his eyes. "Don't flatter me, _demon._ What exactly are you doing, looking at your latest victim?"

Dave simply roll eyes again, the effect lost behind his shades, and turns around, looking at the old apartments charged for having unstable conditions and bad plumbing. "Look, I don't have to explain myself to you, and even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me." Dave spreads out his wings, catching a low draft from the speeding cars below. "All that you need to know is I'm going to take out a couple of your own evil kind, so be grateful." And he dives off the building, building up speed before curving upwards and into an open window on the 4th floor.

Of course, before he can take two steps, the hunting siblings are right after him, teleporting into the room through the girl's abilities.

**(AN: This is where the gore will begin, while it will not be too descriptive, I simply wish to warn you beforehand.)**

"And just what is that supposed to mean, ole chap?" Jake says the accent _very_ apparent in his voice. Dave lets out a groan before opening the door and stepping out into the hallway, quickly slicing the head of a nearby guard right off his shoulders.

"How many times will I have to say 'I won't tell you' before it gets through your weakling's thick skulls?" Dave grabs the guards arm, yanking the flesh from the elbow down clean off and getting rid of the hand, to stringy for his tastes, and chomping down on the still warm meat.

Jake turns away from the gross display, and Jade inspects the guy before looking up at Dave. "Do you have any idea who you're messing with?" Dave shakes his head and mumbles, "Don' know, don' mare." before continuing with the arm, his stomach finally settling.

"You are messing with the Midnight Crew, and they are the people who took my brother." Jade says, looking at Dave with such a stare that Dave would be dead if such things could kill. "So, this is obviously now my responsibility. Tell me why you have a sudden interest in the mafia, demon!"

"You know, we have emotions as well, hunter." Dave continues, his tongue taking over his need to feed and he forgets the arm in his hand. "Yes, we feed on your kind but we your nutrients in your flesh to survive because we can't take it out of other food." He waves the arm around for emphasis. "And we can feel pity, just like you. I saw a boy, no older than you, dying, saying that the people here had nearly beaten him to death and had just escaped. I didn't feed on him, and I want to stop these idiot kinds of your species from doing even more retarded acts, like torturing their own."

Dave stops, glaring at the hunter before turning away and quickly moving down the halls and taking a large bite out of the arm every few seconds. He can hear over his own heart beat and his strong chewing the sound of two pairs of footsteps behind him. He can tell through scent that it's the hunter, but maybe they'll care about their own species to try to stop this 'mafia.'

When you find the stairs, you turn around and face the hunters. "You two go up one floor, I'm heading to the basement." And before they can respond Dave's gone, flash stepping down the steps and slicing at any guards going up or down.

Soon, too soon, he's in the basement. There's a man, mid 70's or so standing by a wall that contained shackles, a crop (thank whatever watches over him that he's not an incubus), a ball gag, Jegus what the hell did they do to the kid?! Thinking of what they could have done to him made Dave's blood boil, his hate quickly turning into a rage, and he can feel more bloodlust by the second.

"Mori quispiam mortalis, mauris cerebrum pervertunt, sed morte morieris!" Dave shouts, charging at the man with his katana and claws engulfed in a crimson aura. Everything is a blur or red and screams, and he can hear bones snapping and the ripping of flesh, but it only pushes him on.

Finally the red clears, and Dave can see the absolutely destroyed corpses lying on the floor, either slashed in half, pieces, or mauled beyond recognition. He walks over to the corpse closest to the shackles on the wall and rips of a large amount of meat. Taking out a Ziploc bag in his pocket, Dave slips the flesh into it from the arm and stuffs it into his pocket.

Two sets of footsteps come from the floor above and Dave flash steps into his bedroom, throwing off the blood soaked clothing into a corner, where others of its kind are currently gathering mold from lack of care. He puts on a new pair of pants and a new shirt, but keeps the meat on his person. He then flash steps to the front door that leads into his abode and walks in, slamming the door close behind him.

Dave smiles as he sees a pointed ear twitch from the blanket, and a head of black hair and foggy blue eyes come out from the covers and a blue tail hung over the side of the couch. The Born Demon then grimaced, knowing that he would have to explain to the boy that has been human most of his life is now a 'Damned Soul' (which is complete and utter bullshit).

This was going to be difficult.

**AN: The English translation of '****Mori quispiam mortalis, mauris cerebrum pervertunt, sed morte morieris'**** is '****Die you weakling mortal shit for brain pervert, die!'**

**Oh, and also, two chapters? That's a new record for me.**

**Thank you for reading Turning – Chapter 2 – Pity.**


	3. Chapter 3 - Reminiscing

** AN: I would like to thank everyone for the positive feedback after only two chapters, as well as the multiple follows and favorites. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.**

**Turning – Chapter 3 – Reminiscing**

"_Hehehe, c'mon John, your dad's made a big cake when we get home to celebrate your birthday!" John sighed, while cake did sound nice, he hated it when his dad used Betty Crocker's stupid premade mix._

_Today was April 16__th__, 2012, and it was John Egbert's sixteenth birthday, the age where people get their cars and drive off into the sunset with a hot broad from their school. John, while he thought the prospect was amazing, didn't really want to face his father, the man obsessed with pulling pranks on him._

"_Jane, do you remember who my dad is? There's probably a bucket of water on top of the front door!" John says, adjusting the heavy backpack on his shoulders and picking up his pace, trying to keep up with his enthusiastic cousin._

"_Hey, but Jake said he's arrived to give you a warm welcome!" Jane says before bringing her hands up to her mouth. "Uh… forget I said that, you aren't supposed to know!" _

_John laughs, but it's more forced than anything. While he loves his family, it just doesn't feel… right. Like there's something he's being left out of, and doesn't know what's wrong. He knows it's something stupid, but it feels like recently, there's been an invisible tension in the air the past week, and today it felt like there was an invisible fog that made it hard to breathe._

_The two turn around the corner of a block, and John's house came into view, the pristine white walls and dark grey roof, mirrored by every other house on the block. The only difference between the Egbert abode and the rest of the block was the toy bunny perched by the chimney._

"_Hey, can you go ahead and tell everyone that I'll be there in a few minutes? I kind of just want to walk for a bit." John calls out, catching his cousin's attention and she simply waves back, acknowledging John's wishes before going up the driveway and through the front door, quickly closing it and giving John the privacy that he wants._

_John sighed, taking out his iPod and hitting shuffle, listening to the music as he heard the music playing. His sister, Jade, would not be happy that he had chosen to deliberately delay seeing Jake and having his presents opened and everything else, but he just wanted to keep away from the unknown tension for as long as possible._

_He rounded another corner, just planning on going around the block once before heading in. A clothed hand grabs him by the mouth and another around his waist, trying to pull him into the fence. John glances back, seeing an unfamiliar face with chubby features holding him hostage a block away from his house. He thrashes, hoping to God that this is just an extremely elaborate prank by Jade, or Jake, hell, his DAD would be more opportune at this moment. _

_The hand around his mouth disappears for a quick second, and John screams at the top of his lungs, hoping that_ someone_ will hear him. The hand returns with a rag, everything smells sweet. He can't focus clearly and his trashing is down to only a kick every few seconds._

_Something comes by and stops, and the feeling of being dragged is apparent. Someone's shouting, but it sounds so distant, everything's so, so distant. He just wants to fall and drift, and he's airborne for a few seconds before hitting a cold metal surface. Everything's spinning and shifting and he can feel warm light on his face before it's cut off by-_

* * *

A door slams closed, and John can feel the fabric of the couch he's sleeping on rip underneath his fingers. He sighs, grateful that it's only a nightmare that plagued his mind, and not the real deal. That was nine months ago, when he was kidnapped the day of his birthday, the details are hard to forget, and that day has plagued his nightmares after the first week in the 'care' of Spades Slick.

John peaks his head over the blanket, seeing the mystery teen entering through the front door and looking at him, frowning. John raises his eyebrow in confusion before remembering when he went up to relieve himself, and his eyes widened. He felt his tail flick nervously, and John began to internally panic, hoping that whatever this guy did, he wasn't about to be thrown out.

John sat up and looked at his rescuer before starting. "L-listen, before you say anything, I…" John looked down at the tail currently swaying back and forth. "I have no idea where this thing came from or what the fuck it is. I went to take a piss after swallowing the aspirin and I just saw it there and I came back here and-" A hand is on John's shoulder, somewhat stilling his shivering form.

"You know, you have an incredible talent of just prattling on and on about stuff that I don't really need to know." The boy says and who's still wearing the shades.

"Um, what?" John asks, looking at the teen in confusion. He sees the boy flicker once before whatever characteristics that were there previously were gone. A red, scale covered tail creeps out from a cut in his jeans, his fingers webbed and horns are perched on his head. Unlike Johns, they curved back and over his head, the edges ridged and bumpy. John starred at him before backing up against the arm of the couch, trying to become one with the cushions.

"Wh-what… what did you – did you do?" John asks, his tongue feeling like a stone in his mouth.

"Dude, I'm betting that you've been to religion at least once in your life, and have more than likely heard of demons during mass. To put it in the simplest terms possible, I saw you dying, I pitied you and turned you into a demon to make sure that you didn't die. Name's Dave, by the way, and what do you want for breakfast?"

John just stared blankly at the te- _Dave_ for a good minute before responding. "Uh… okay first off, how did this keep me from dying? And I'm not really-" John doubled over, holding his gut, groaning out in pain. What the hell, he wasn't this hungry before, what the fuck?

"Yeah I figured that you'd be hungry when I got back, so I grabbed you a snack. It should hold you off and then we can go out and get more later." Dave plops something down in his lap in a Ziploc bag that was slightly open. Ugh, gross, was that raw meat, why would he give you raw meat to eat? John contemplates this for a little while longer before the smell reaches his nose.

It should smell like dead cow since it looked like beef, but it wasn't even close to that. It smelled like the most appetizing thing to John, more appetizing than the slop that Spades had force fed him, and everything in his vision seems to taint red. He claws into the bag and starts digging in, enjoying every minute that the meat was on his tongue.

Before long the meat is gone, and John takes deep breaths to control himself. "Yeah, normally new turns can't really control hunger urges, so to make sure you didn't die immediately from lack of nutrients or some shit, I grabbed a piece of that from one of the people that beat the ever-loving shit out of you, maybe the head honcho, I don't fucking know."

John stares at his hands, covered in blood and little pieces of meat. "W-what do you mean? What did you give me?" He asks, and before he can control himself, he licks his fingers clean.

"Human meat."

And that's when John stopped what he was doing and rushed to the bathroom, trying hard not to throw up.


	4. Chapter 4 - Explain

**Turning – Chapter 4 – Explain**

Dave sighed as he saw the kid run off, probably to go to the bathroom. Human meat was apparently not a nice thing for humans, so it'll take a while for him to get used to it. Dave stands up and goes to the pitifully small kitchen and opens the refrigerator, grabbing some eggs and toast and made a breakfast that the kid would be more willing to eat.

After about ten minutes (the toast has been made and the eggs are still sizzling a little bit) the newbie came back, holding his stomach and wiping his mouth.

"You realize that you probably just burned your throat to hell and back, right?" Dave says, grabbing a piece of toast and tossing it at the kid who ducked instead of catching it. The boy groans and then sits down on one of the many chairs around the room, holding his head in his hands.

About five minutes later, Dave plops a plate with two eggs and a piece of toast in front of the newbie, sitting down on the couch and digging in on the food.

"John."

Dave's ears twitch, but other than that, he shows no other signs of acknowledgement.

"Did you hear me, or are you ignoring me?" John says, his words slightly muffled by the food in his mouth. Again, Dave just ignores him and continues to eat, taking the first bite of his toast.

"Ugh, you're insufferable." Dave can tell that he means for it to come out bitter, but the light chuckle in his tone betrays him. "So, well, two questions, the first one is why did you give me… uh… human meat? The second one is how did turning me into a demon keep me from dying?"

"You're eager to learn, aren't you?" Dave says, lifting up a piece of egg from his plate before eating it. "Okay, the human meat part was so that you didn't die immediately. A demon's body can't really process as many nutrients as a human can, so we eat the flesh to make sure we aren't deprived of calcium or shit like that."

John shifts, and when Dave looks up the plate is empty and his head is in his hands. "Okay, so demons kill and… eat other humans to get stuff that they can't? Am I getting that right?" Dave nods. "And if I don't? What happens then?"

Dave simply shrugs. "Well, you're part human so you can probably process more than I can, but I can vouch for any demon here and say if you don't eat flesh on occasion you'll definitely die. I don't know about you, you'd probably last longer than me."

"So if that's the case, why didn't you kill me? I mean, you would've had something to eat…"

Dave growls, his words tainted with venom. "Everybody thinks that demons have no emotions, hell, the hunters fucking _thrive_ on that stereotype, but it's not true." Dave looks up at John and sighs, taking off his aviators and looking at him with red eyes. "We can feel grief, we can feel happiness, we can feel fucking everything that humans can and when I saw you literally on the brink of fucking death, and I knew that demons could heal extremely quickly, I kind of just… did it. I didn't want to see someone die because their own species were fucking stupid douchebags."

It's silent after that, the tension is thick and uncomfortable, and when John speaks Dave jumps.

"Dave, what does it mean when a demon's wings appear?"

Dave looks over at him, trying not to glare. "It happens when a demon is scared, angry or needs to get away, why?"

He lifts his hand. "There's a pair on your back." And there is, flame colored scale covered limbs spread out, coming into Dave's point of view. He takes a few deep breaths and clears his head, and they disappear as quickly as they came if a quick burst of flames.

"Oh, wow that is really cool." John says. "So, demons can heal really quickly and they have really badass wings, anything else?" Dave nods and stands up, quickly moving to the light switch and flicking it off, his eyes beginning to glow.

"Well, we can see in the dark, have improved senses over all and," Dave flash steps behind John, tapping his shoulder and making the boy jump. "Each demon has a special ability. Mines what I like to call 'flash stepping' and I can also create flames." Dave opens up his hand and puts it in front of John, quickly summoning a small flame. "I can't fucking engulf myself in flames, but I can throw a fire ball or two if I want." John stares at the flame and then glares at it, seeming to want to smother it with bad look. A gust of wind picks up and swirls around the flame, quickly depriving it of oxygen and the sole light in the room is gone.

Dave simply stares at his hand before chuckling and flash stepping again, flicking the light switch up and the room fills with a dull yellow glow. Thankfully going in such a little space with his abilities doesn't wear him out, but holding a flame that could become uncontrollable in the next second wears out the Born quite a bit.

"So, considering that all the windows in here are closed and the AC isn't blasting at full force, your special ability is to be able to control the wind." Dave looks back at John, who is breathing harshly and lying limp against the couch. "Yeah, and your first time using them by thinking about them instead of it being a defensive reflex is basically the equivalent of running two miles with no breaks. Trust me, that's something that we've both went through."

John simply glances at him before passing out, his fingers twitching every few seconds. Dave walks over and moves the blanket that was discarded on the other side of the couch to cover John. This is in favor of both of them, considering that Dave didn't really have a spare bed (unless you consider a hammock a good bed) or anything that could really be qualified as a pillow either. Dave then makes a b-line to his room and starts up his laptop, waiting a few seconds before opening up Pesterchum and starting to bother his sister.

turntechGodhead began pestering tentacleTherapist

TG: rose we need to talk and im not fucking around here this is serious

TG: rose

TG: rose quit ignoring me I need to talk to you and roxy

TT: Is there a reason you are blathering on and on Dave? Roxy is currently in a drunken state and cannot talk to you for emotional help, but I am clearly up for debate.

TG: oh thank christ i thought that a hunter finally got to you

TT: A Hunter, getting to the infamous Lalonde Sisters? I'm afraid that that is a little farfetched David. I'm offended that you would think such a wrongful thing of me.

TG: quit being sarcastic lalonde roxy already told be that you have feeling for one of the people hunting you for the bounty on your head

TG: isnt her name kanaya or something?

TT: What do you need to talk about?

TG: see avoiding the question you totally have a crush on the girl trying to kill you

TG: that's a major detriment for your health sis are you sure that you dont want to talk to me?

TT: David I will end this conversation right now if this is the topic that we are discussing. I am well aware that this is a very harmful thing to me, but until I can figure something out, I will be a good sister to you and help you with your situation.

TG: okay so heres the deal

TG: i found a kid dying and turned him and hes now in my house passed out on my couch

TG: should i throw him out or should i put him under my wing

TG: or however the fuck that phrase goes

TT: Well you seem to be in more of a predicament to me, David. The fact that you have a Turn in your apartment with little room to spare is not exactly good.

TT: Do your brothers know about this?

TG: fuck no i turned him last night when did i suddenly have the time to tell them

TT: Well suggesting that you are up at a decently unworthy hour you were up very late. This suggests that you might have been hunting, so you met the boy either very early or very late.

TT: If you found him very early, then you went hunting and did something that took a long amount of time, regardless you would have had a moment to tell your siblings about this apparent sympathy from you.

TG: fine i found him and he was beat to shit so i turned him and brought him to my apartment and then beat the shit out of the people who nearly killed him are you happy

TT: Very much so.

TG: fuck you

TT: Well if that's the case, I would recommend that you take him under your wing. He could become a very powerful demon, especially since we have no idea what his abilities could be.

TG: i already know he can control wind i know that its only one of them he has to have a secondary one but hey its something

TT: True, it's good to know at least a little bit about your new pupil.

TG: so you really want me to take this kid and show him the ropes?

TT: If you don't your efforts to keep him alive will be in vain. He will either die due to depriving himself of the nutrients he needs, or due to the Hunters and not knowing how to defend himself.

TG: well thanks for the advice im going to tell him that ill show him what to do when he wakes up

TT: He is not conscious? It should be morning right now in Texas.

TG: yeah but he did a windy thing on my flame thing and hes out like a fucking christmas tree light

TG: im gonna have to wait a good hour before i can break the news

TT: Well I wish you good luck brother, Roxy will be very happy to have a new person to smuther.

TG: thanks for the words of the encouragement rose

turntechGodhead ceased pestering tentacleTherapist

Well that was certainly easier than expected. Dave looks out his window before backing away and heading to the living room to see the early morning news. He wonders if they'll mark the slaughter at the hotels a massive murder or a group suicide.

You can never tell with the news, though, they were never really accurate in the first place.


	5. Chapter 5 - Blame

**Turning – Chapter 5 – Blame**

Jade was born a Demon Hunter. Her Grandfather was one of the best ones alive, marked down in holy books as the Great Hunter, legends spiraled from his journeys, and heads mounted the walls in the living room.

Jade was born through a woman with fair skin and long black hair along with her brother Jake, who was brought to an orphanage since her mother could only raise one child at the time. Jade's mother very quickly married Mr. Egbert, only to die after John was born. Jade treasured her little brother and, after 4 years, Mr. Egbert found Jake English through the foster care system and the happy family was united.

Jade's mother had made sure to tell Mr. Egbert of the world of Demons and Angels, how God was holy and sinning made you a prime candidate for Demons to hunt and eat you, and she made sure to teach Mr. Egbert how to defend himself through taking him on a few hunts. Mr. Egbert taught Jade everything he knew, and even taught Jade when John wasn't around and hanging out with Jane on those off days she would visit and take him to the movies to see the latest movie Nicolas Cage stared in.

Jade visited Jake as often as she could, and taught him how to defend himself through the two flint-locked pistols that his parents had given him for his 7th birthday (Can never be too careful, huh son?). Jade knew that, someday, she'd be a great huntress, just like her mother and grandfather had been, Jake knew it too, and always helped her if she got hurt or needed anything.

The only problem was John. His father never wanted to tell him that things that lurk under his bed might be real, might just be lurking there waiting for his innocent soul to be taken, ripe for the picking. When John turned sixteen, yes, sixteen seemed like a good age, he would tell John and bring him into the new family business.

When John was kidnapped the whole family went into turmoil. Jane blamed herself heavily (Why did I let him walk, I could've said no and let him in, why did I let him go?) and Mr. Egbert refused to go to work, Jake comforted the family as much as he could, and his own mother and father came to visit and help. Jade could only think of one thing to blame.

Demons, they had every motive. Once they figured out where the hunters lived, they take something to keep them from hunting more of their kind. They had taken John and eaten him and he was probably dead.

But then the police, the kind police that gave answers to every mystery, told them that a neighbor had seen the kidnapping happen and gave a very accurate description of what happened to the police. Someone had come from the sidewalk, grabbed the boy, and thrown him into a black van with the letters MC with a heart and spade in red spray paint on the side. MC stood for 'Midnight Crew,' the gang that constantly moved and was in the shadow, hiding away from the police and killed for money.

Jade didn't care, she still wanted her brother back, and she still wanted to kill the demons, blame them for her brother's disappearance. She told Jake her plan in detail over Pesterchum that she would join the Demon hunting group named Prospit, whose headquarters were in Houston, if nothing was found out about John in the next month. Jake said that he'd go with her to help, his parents didn't care.

Nothing was found, and Jade, along with Jake, said their goodbyes and moved to Texas, in hopes that someday they'd find their baby brother.

* * *

Jade and Jake were welcomed to Prospit easily, two extra pairs of hands were always appreciated (even though some people needed to be warmed up to in order to get along). There, after a month of hunting small demons, they met the Striders and, on occasion, the Lalondes, who made sure that they wouldn't come back with their heads, just a lot of scratches, bullet holes and burns marked on their skin.

Nine months have passed since John was kidnapped, and the previous day, Jade and her brother had run into Dave, who was surprisingly doing justice for the town by taking down a new headquarters of the Midnight Crew. Needless to say the two were tired when they came back, and they fell asleep immediately.

Unfortunately, now they had to face the music. And by face the music, they have to face the ranting mouth of Karkat Vantas and the second in command, Terezi Pyrope. Walking into the bosses room with Terezi is odd, they're talking about some shitty comics being posted and that they might be made by a demon, but once the two come in, the conversation stops and they look up.

"Oh, the green twins are now in the presence of the great legislator and her sidekick, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Terezi asks, her blind eyes sparkling behind the red-tinted glasses she wears.

"When did I become the sidekick?" Karkat asks his face tinted with red as he gazed up at the seer. Karkat and Terezi were (and it was not a surprise to anyone who knows the two) dating, and while it normally gets in the way during a hunt, it makes the two excellent leaders since they were almost always together.

"If we could avoid the bickering today you two," Jade says, sweeping her eyes over the two higher ups to make sure that they wouldn't interrupt again. "Jake and I have something, uh, weird to report." Jade took the silence as a sign to continue. "Jake and I were out hunting and we ran into Dave Strider, we were going to kill him but he said he was doing justice and-"

"Whoa, what?" Terezi says, her grin fell and was replaced with shock. "A Demon, not just any demon but the cherry scented Dave Strider doing justice? I'm sorry but those two do not mix! I'm hoping that you two are joking, otherwise I'll find him and hang him myself."

"Wait, we're not done yet Miss Pyrope, We're only at the tip of the iceberg!" Jake says and picks up where Jade was interrupted. "We followed the Demon up a building that was across from the hotels on Vacquero Street, the ones that were going to be torn down and replaced soon. He said that he was doing us a favor and taking out some of our own species. We followed him in, and it turns out it was a base for the Midnight Crew." Jake says, stopping to catch his breath, and Karkat jumped in.

"Isn't that the organization that took your brother?" The twins nod in response to the question, and Karkat pinches the bridge of his nose. "Did you two figure out why he was there, better yet, why he was even somewhat interested?"

Jade nods and continues. "Apparently he saw a kid around the same age as him about to die and that he told Dave where he was beaten. We couldn't find him after we were finished there, and trust me, we looked for a while. We then went down to the basement, and when we arrived, the entire place was filled with corpses; all were horribly mauled with either a sword or claws. We left after that and came back here."

Karkat sighed, and he glanced at Terezi, who shook her head. "Well, okay, this is going to be an announcement to everyone, and I want you two to spread the word to the other hunters. Keep a close eye out for any Midnight Crew members; we might be able to identify the kid if we get one of them to confess, got it?" The two nod and turn to head out, but Karkat calls them back. "Hey, I'm not done!"

The leader sighs before spitting out. "Also keep an eye out for any new demon in the area that's a kid, possibly seventeen. While Dave might've not fed on him, he could've easily turned him. Now you two can go, I'm pretty sure that Gamzee and Tavros went on scouting duty, so I recommend that the two of you split up." And the two leave, a grim air around them.

"I'll go out okay? You can tell Vriska and Kanaya." Jade says and heads to the door, not letting Jake respond, and picks up her sniper on the way out. Leaving the stuffy floor of the building is always a relief to Jade, the hot air and sun, which used to be annoying to her, became a welcoming comfort. Jade takes a few steps back before sprinting, quickly jumping off the side of the ledge and scaling the building opposite, trying to find the other hunters.

After roof jumping around Houston for about five minutes, Jade's sensitive ears pick up on something… odd, something that you shouldn't hear happening throughout the town during daylight hours. She turns towards the sound and starts running, only stopping once she was across the street from the origin. She takes cover behind an air conditioning unit and takes out her sniper rifle, looking through the sight placed on the top.

A strife between two boys is happening on the top of a building, and she's surprised that the neighbors haven't called in on a noise complaint yet. Zooming in even further, she nearly pulls the trigger when she sees that one of the attackers is Dave. She fixes the sight again, and she nearly drops the sniper rifle entirely.

"J-John…?" She asks, and she looks again. He looks gruff, his face and body have some grime covering it, but the dark blue sweater with the breath symbol is still there, and his buck teeth are grinding down in an effort to keep Dave's katana from slicing him in half.

Jade growls, her body briefly covered in green electricity before she moves the sniper rifle. That's her little brother that Dave is trying to kill, and she'll be damned if she lets Dave do that. She zooms in on Dave's head, makes sure that her breathing is not shaking the sniper rifle so much that she'll miss and waits for him to stop moving so sporadically.

He pauses, and Jade pulls the trigger.

**AN: I'm sorry that this chapter is late, I'm not used to doing a daily update and Thanksgiving came around the corner with my birthday as well and I'm practically in a sugar coma from the amount of cake I've eaten… I did write more than one chapter though, so don't worry, I'll make sure that you will get one tomorrow as well as today.**


	6. Chapter 6 - Strife

**Turning - Chapter 6 – Strife **

John was pretty sure he had died when he woke up. His head throbbed and made the ache in his joints worse. His sight, although he had his glasses on, blurred constantly, and he could barely make out that an episode of The Power Puff Girls was playing, the drumbeat making his ears ring. He groans out in pain, and the TV is muted and Dave is suddenly hovering over him.

"How're you feeling?" He asks. "You want another aspirin or are you good?" John coughs and he's pretty sure that his throat has literally become a desert in Egypt that's nowhere near the Nile River.

"I think that I'm good." John says, and he can see that Dave is struggling to say something. "Something the matter?"

"Well, you've been out for a good two hours and, in that time, I talked to my sister." Dave says, and John notices that he looks normal again, like when he first met the demon. "And we went back and forth and she said that I should 'take you under my wing' and show you how to do shit to make sure that you don't die the moment you go outside." And now Dave is holding out his hand. "What do you say, you willing for me to show you the ropes?" And John can't help but chuckle and grab his hand, shaking it firmly.

"Mind if I make a request? How the hell do you hide the wings and horns?" And he then hauls John up, making his head spin a little bit before he recovers and Dave is a man on a mission, hauling him to his room filled with wires, pictures held up on a clothesline and cinder blocks, a bed shoved haphazardly on the side of the room.

Dave sits down on the bed Indian style and pats the area in front of him, gesturing for John to join him. John sits down and Dave's mouth is going a mile a minute. "Okay, so it's going to take you either a minute to learn this or 20 depending on how fluent you are in speaking a language that you probably have never spoken before. But hey, what do I know, maybe you have spoken Latin before." And John quickly holds up his hands, showing that he's willing to surrender and listen to the insane rambling.

Dave's eyebrow moves up a little before he starts speaking at a normal pace. "Okay, this is going to be in Latin, and hopefully you'll get it on your first try. And trust me; it will be very apparent if you do." He takes a deep breath before speaking as slowly as possible, hoping that John will understand the phrase so that he doesn't have to repeat it 50 more times. "Custodi me, et abscondas me ex nudo oculo videbitur ad me latet, salvum me fac. Averte daemon, homo repraesentat."

John looks at him confused. "Okay, so try to say that on my first go? Alright, I'll try." He clears his throat and takes a deep breath, and Dave is surprised when he nearly nails the whole thing in one go. "Custodin me, et absconds me ex nudo oculo videbitur ad me latte, salvum me fac. Averte demon, homo repraesent."

They repeat the process a couple of times, John stuttering over some words with a smirk and points out what he said wrong and how to say it. After the fifth try or so, Dave doesn't say anything and just stares at him, and John leans back until his back thuds against the mattress.

"What did I say wrong this time?" John says, glaring at the blonde boy who just smirks at John before standing up and grabbing something on his dresser. He comes back holding a small mirror above John's head, and the mirror reflects John's normal face. No horns, no slit pupils, nothing out of the ordinary. John stares in amazement and rubs his hand where his horn was, but his fingers tell him that there is in fact a bone there. He looks at the image confused before Dave elaborates.

"Dude, don't look so shocked. The incantation just reflects a normal image of you so that no one but a seer can tell that you're a human." Dave moves the mirror away and moves towards the door, John following him slowly.

"Now you're going to learn how to fight."

John was, to say the least, exhausted. The internal clock in his head says that it might've been five minutes or so since he'd started strifing with Dave, sledgehammer against a (somewhat blunt) katana. He had been learning how to block, parry, and deal with the heavy weight to strike with the full force of the heavy metal block. He was learning through experience, not by word, and this was probably the best way for him to learn.

John lived in a family filled with Christians, believing that devils and demons were unholy and that violence was never the answer. John was defying both of those 'rules' his father had set up by doing this. Fighting a demon (now being one himself) and trying not to get cut in half or rip out his arm socket was a learning experience, and would probably save his ass if he was about to get mugged, or killed, both worked.

After a while, Dave backs off and so does John, mainly just to take a breather. In those few seconds, John sees the world differently and he doesn't know why. It's like he suddenly has a sixth sense of telling what's around him, not quite sight and not quite touch, but it was like everything moved and made an image. That image portrayed something, a warning, something was moving quickly, about to hit and puncture Dave's skull and that it would kill him.

Without thinking, John lifts up his hand, and the wind obeys. It swirls near Dave's head, creating a shield in the form of a bubble, and when the projectile hits it, the wind fights back just as strong and stops it, the tiny metal thumping against the concrete roof along with John, only being held up by his grip on the sledgehammer's handle.

John feels a strong grip on his shoulder, and he's picked up and shoved through the door that heads back down onto the levels, Dave following suit. John's grateful that he didn't overexert himself and he looks with somewhat blurry eyes as a girl with long black hair holds Dave at gun point. John is filled with a rush of adrenaline and he lifts the hammer, slamming it against the girls head and she falls, her body thumping against the landing before the stairs down.

"F-fucking shit…" John mutters, leaning heavily against the wall. He looks at Dave, whose still staring at the girl, and chokes on a sob. "F-fuck did I… did I kill her?" Dave leans down and holds two fingers against her neck and another by the area where John hit her. After a few seconds, Dave moves to lift up her body and glances at John.

"No, no she's still alive, but thanks, by the way. She's a hunter who's out for my head. If you hadn't done that she definitely would have shot me." Dave sound grateful, and through John's foggy head he chuckles. "Go back to the room, man and take a breather. I didn't think you'd do the windy thing so soon after waking up and you're probably going to pass out."

John simply nods, stumbling down the stairs and, somehow not getting a concussion, returns back to the apartment. He drops the hammer by the door frame before collapsing on the couch, slumber quickly descending over his mind.

While he sleeps, his subconscious tries to make him feel guilty, but John can't seem to register the emotion. After all, he had held the guy who saved his life at gunpoint simply for money, so he doesn't feel guilty or wrong.

No, not in the slightest bit.

**AN: The English translation of 'Custodi me, et abscondas me ex nudo oculo videbitur ad me latet, salvum me fac. Averte daemon, homo repraesentat' is "Protect me and hide me from the naked eye, keep me hidden until you see fit, make sure that I'm safe. Hide the demon, portray the human.'**


	7. Chapter 7 - Grief

**Turning – Chapter 7 – Grief**

Jade's head throbs and every thought and movement feels like someone is hammering a nail into her head. Someone is shaking her shoulder and speaking, but it's all a blurred mess where sights and sounds mix to a painful point. The shaking continues and eventually the sounds make sense, but her sight is still blurred.

"Uh, Jade we, uh, we really need you to wake up now. Jade? Oh, uh, Kanaya I, uh, think that she's, uh, awake." And Jade can easily figure out that Tavros, the shyest hunters alive, is talking to her. Another figure appears besides Tavros's and she feels something damp against her forehead.

"Well it is nice to see that you are not fatally concussed Miss Harley, if you feel up to it, may you tell us what had happened." Jade moans out, thankful that Kanaya was helping her. Kanaya was famed for being an excellent healer, knowing many healing incantations along with performing them excellently.

"Why can't I see?" Is the first thing out of Jade's mouth, and Tavros moves, coming back holding her large black framed glasses and they're placed on her face haphazardly. Jade moves her hand and fixes them to the point where there's no gray blur in her peripherals and she can see the pale girl and boy clearly.

"Now that you are awake," Kanaya says dabbing her head with the wet cloth. "Do you mind if we go out and tell everyone, mainly your brother, that you're not about to die? He has been pacing back and forth in front of my room ever since Tavros and Gamzee came back carrying your body between them." Jade nods and Tavros helps to lift her up and support her weight as she limps towards the door.

The moment she comes out, Jake is grabbing her and hugging her to death. "Oh god, Jade are you okay? Gamzee and Tavros came back and said that you wouldn't respond to anything and-" Jade slaps him hard and Jake shuts up, touching the red mark with calloused fingers.

"Jeez Jake, if you keep up a mouth like that you might overtake Karkat's record for rambling!" Jade exclaims and looks beyond Jake, seeing Vriska, Gamzee, Karkat and Terezi looking at her. Jade blushes and turns away.

"Jesus Jade, what haaaaaaaappened to you?" Vriska says, looking at Jade's pale, sweaty face in shock. Vriska was an amazing hunter, known for getting the demons with the biggest bounties. The only ones that she hasn't gotten were the Striders and Lalondes, and she hates them dearly.

"I gotta agree with spidersis here, what demon all up and mother fuckin' did that to ya?" Gamzee, known for having something similar to bipolar disorder, is normally put on scouting with Tavros. Sometimes he was calm and you could hold a conversation with him, but at others he's a slaughtering machine, harming or even killing anyone in the way.

"Give her a minute you two, she is still recovering from head trauma." Kanaya states as she leads Jade over to a chair for her to sit down. The chair is directly to the right of Karkat, and Jake is quick to take the seat to her right, holding her hand for comfort.

"I-" Jade coughs before continuing. "I was out looking for Gamzee and Tavros when I heard something and went to investigate it. There was a strife going on, a very loud one at that, so I hid behind an air conditioning unit and took sight with my sniper to try and see who they were. I couldn't recognize the first boy, but the second one was Dave Strider. I took sight with my sniper and shot, it was supposed to be a direct hit, puncturing the skull, but some sort of shield was made and-"

"Could you tell what it was? The shield I mean. Was it an incantation or something else?" Karkat interrupts and Jade is cross for only a second before she shrugs her shoulders. "I couldn't hear an incantation being said, but it acted like one. I'm not entirely sure what it was."

Jade takes the silence as a sign to continue. "The shield stopped the bullet and Dave shoved the kid into a little shack, probably led downstairs, and I followed quickly. I had Dave at gun point when… something slammed into my head, knocking me out. Next thing I know Tavros is telling me to wake up and Kanaya's helping me with my head." Jade finishes and looks up.

Jade is pretty sure that Vriska is about to break the closest thing by here (probably Gamzee's neck) and Kanaya might take action to search for Dave and saw him in half. The entire room is dead silent from Jade's speech and, surprisingly, Tavros is the one to break the silence.

"So… uh, what do we do now?" Karkat looks at him with one of those faces that screams 'Are you fucking kidding me?!' and he responds. "We obviously keep an eye out for any new demons, Dave couldn't have knocked out Jade without her seeing it happen or what caused it, so however he was fighting is a new demon, probably a turn." Karkat glares at Jake and Jade. "It was probably the kid that Dave mentioned to you last night, so keep an eye out for any new demons, especially any turns that are near Dave's territories." And it's kind of like it's a silent order for everyone to leave, and the Prospitans go and do their own thing.

Jade keeps a firm grip on Jake's hand and he's guided/dragged towards the room that the twins share. It's nothing special, decently big, two separate one person beds are squeezed in on opposite sides of the room, the one with the dog blanket is Jade's and the ones with the skulls is Jake's. They share a dresser, top three shelves are Jades and the bottom three are Jake's, and the top of the furniture is just miscellaneous items that they both agree are important.

Jade moves over to her bed and flops down, a choked sob escaping her lips. In an instant Jake is besides her and holding her close to his chest, shaking back and forth slowly, like trying to soothe a baby to sleep. Jade sobs again, and grips Jake like he's the last thing keeping her from drowning, her lifeline. They continue like this for a few more minutes, Jake letting out whispers of comfort and gentle shushes, and Jade sobbing into his shirt.

Jade pulls away, wiping her tear-streaked face with the back of her sleeve, and she looks at Jake, green meeting green, before starting. "I-I saw who Dave was fighting with…" And Jake looks at her shocked, knowing that she rarely lets out information. "I didn't tell Karkat be-because it was John." And Jake's face falls, whatever used to be there was now complete and utter shock, something that shouldn't be seen on a Hunter's face. Jake holds Jade's tightly, both for her comfort and his own, and they stay like that for what seems like forever, mourning the loss of their little sibling.

Unknowingly, a girl with a metal arm overhears everything, and she walks off, her head held high and shaking eight dice in her hand.

* * *

Vriska Serket is one of the most infamous hunters amongst demon kind. She has slaughtered thousands before joining Prospit, each time she'd cut off the victim's head, and each time it would be brought to her mother for praise. Vriska never did learn what her mother did to the heads, she didn't question it.

It wasn't until Vriska messed with the Striders that she learned why she should never make fun of a demon's status or belongings. One day Miss Serket found a tiny puppet with a satanic cross on its necklace by her mother's property, and thinking that the doll was some way to attract demons, ripped the doll to shreds. She cut off the head, as per usual, and her mother praised her for the kill, Aranea sneering from the book of healing incantations that she was sucked into at the point in time.

That was Vriska's downfall.

The doll's name was Cal, and it just happened to be a favorite of Bro Strider, right hand man of the big man downstairs himself. After finding his puppet's mangled remains with the head missing, he flew into a rage. He managed to follow the tiny stuffings that fell out of Cal's decapitated head to the Serket's manor, a large abode decorated like a pirate's ship, before entering, getting past the small ward meant to keep demons out. Needless to say they were useless against such a high level demon as him.

The mother of two had her armed ripped off, was blinded, and thrown down stairs, snapping her neck. The oldest sibling, Aranea, was sliced into pieces and then thrown into the fireplace (which Bro set aflame). Vriska suffered the worse. One of her eyes was sliced to a pulp, and her left arm was sliced off, Bro eating some of it in front of her. Bro left soon after, assuming that her injuries would cause so much blood loss that she would die.

Vriska hung onto life long enough to get ahold of a demon that owed her a favor for not killing his 'moirail' as they put it. She requested that she would have a robotic eye and a robotic left arm, one that could function with her body in return. She got it in less than ten minutes, and she somehow survived, a miracle of the Gods, if you ask me.

Vriska covered the house head to toe in gasoline and dropped a match, the house quickly burning to the ground. When there was nothing left but ashes, Vriska was long gone, having headed off to Texas, trying to get away from the Californian life and make a good use of what she has left.

But if there's one thing that Vriska loves more than anything, its money and praise. Now, if this 'John' was a turn who was associated with Dave, all that she needed to do was find John and torture him to the point where he tells her where Dave is hiding out. Then she'll kill Dave, using John as leverage, and then kill John.

It was like hitting two birds with one stone, Dave would finally die and she'd get the money, and John would be saved from a life of literal hell, and save the twins from dealing with that kind of pain.

She'd be the knight in shining armor for this boy and all of the Hunters worldwide, written in history books and stories told of her for _eons_! Just thinking about it made the thieving girl giddy.

**AN: As I was writing this story, an anonymous person reviewed that they had never heard of Demonstuck and that it was an amazing concept. I am mainly writing this to say that I did not come up with this idea. Demonstuck was an idea that was made by a person on tumblr known as ****my-friend-the-frog, and the idea was 'The Prospit dreamers are Demon Hunters and the Derse Dreamers are Demons.**

**So, for the anon who reviewed, thank you for the praise, but I just want to bring up that I'm not the one who came up with this, and I'm definitely not the only one who has written a Demonstuck story.**


	8. Chapter 8 - Visit

**Turning – Chapter 8 – Visit**

Dave picks up the girl bridal style and summons his wings, flying off in a random direction. His main goal is to move the girl as far away from the apartment as possible, but not kill her. If that happened, then the hunters would give it his all to kill him and John, and he is not going to let that happen any time soon.

After finding a decent roof, he lands and props the girl up so that she's sitting. He makes sure that her gun is near her as well. He might hate Harley, but he'd prefer not to have her weapon. Knowing her, she probably had a tracker on it or something and he didn't want to risk her coming back and finding it in his room.

Dave leaves soon after, making sure that nothing of his is left behind, and he moves back to the apartment, flash stepping this time instead of flying, and he's soon back in the living room. John had passed out on the couch, understandable since he had been fighting him and then used his powers.

Actually, if John hadn't done that, he probably would've died. Jade never misses her target, never, and thanks to John he's still standing. He'll repay him when he wakes up, a treat or something for the kid when he's out of la la land.

And that's when Dave hears it. It's faint at first, but there's the sound of something rustling from his kitchen and, at this point, Dave doesn't want to take any chances. He takes out his katana from the sheath attached to his belt and moves silently to the entrance. He waits for a few more seconds, still hearing the stupid rustling, and then bursts through the door, holding the tip of the katana at the room and…

"Fucking shit Bro, do me a favor and give me a warning before you come here!" Dave says, relaxing and keeping a lose grip on the blade's end. The person who was currently searching around Dave's cupboards was Dave's brother (more so a partner), Dirk. Dirk had a similar personality to Dave, even sharing his taste in swords, but they often get on the wrong foot when it comes to who/what they hunt.

Dirk's main base was situated on an island off of Florida, and he moved there for isolation, solely hunting on animals and sometimes going out and grabbing a human to sustain himself. Dave, however, moved to Houston for the love of hunting humans and taunting the hunters that live there. Their different views often lead to arguments, sometimes with some blood and bruises as well, but normally if Dirk were to visit, he'd give some sort of warning to Dave.

And he'd also not be eating Dave's fruit loops. "What, can't I visit my baby brother?" Dirk says before walking over to Dave, managing to secure him in a head lock before giving him a harsh nuggy.

"Fucking – Get off Dirk!" Dave says, pushing Dirk off and glaring at the taller demon. "I was just nearly shot by a fucking Hunter and I have no idea if there are more so I'm kind of on edge here! I fucking thought that you were Karkat or someone trying to crawl through the kitchen window."

Dirk looks at him, leans on the counter and then continues to eat the Fruit Loops, making Dave growl. "Okay, long story short Dave, Roxy told me, through Rose, that you turned some kid and are taking him under your wing." He smirks before brushing past Dave and entering the living room. "So this is him huh? Roxy and Rose are comin' down for a hunt, figured that they could throw the caution to the wind and are gonna come with us. Hope you'll bring the kid along with you."

Dirk flops down onto one of the chairs, propping up his legs and flicking on the TV, turning onto 'The Hub' and watching the new episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. "By the way, thanks for the fruit loops, I'm fucking _starving_, you have no idea how tiring it is flying from Florida to Texas without any portals man, it's fucking exhaust-" And a katana is shoved up against Dirk's throat.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me with this whole hunt bullshit, I just taught the kid how to fight less than three minutes ago, trust me Dirk, I've been fucking counting. And Rose and Roxy coming down here to fucking _hunt_ of all things, you're pulling my fucking tail right now Dirk." Dave's voice is laced with a thick growl, and he hears someone shifting behind him. He nearly turns his head, but Dirk's voice grabs his attention.

"Rose and Roxy are coming down here to meet the new turn, and I will admit, the Hunt is my idea, I don't know if they'll agree or not, but they probably will, considering they don't want us to die." Dirk smirks and gently pushes the blade away from his neck. "And the kid will learn with experience, Dave, don't worry. If there's four of us, then we'll all have his back, we're not _completely_ heartless, y'know?"

Dave pushes back with the blade with equal force, his growling never letting up. It isn't until a hand grabs his shoulder does he stop. He turns around and sees the bleary eyes of John, staring at him and his brother in confusion.

"This'd be him, right?" Dirk says, standing up and letting the katana's tip brush against his chest before Dave puts the blade away. He holds out his hand, acting like Dave didn't try to threaten him earlier, and introduces himself to John.

"Hey there newbie, my names Dirk-"

"Otherwise known as an asshole of a brother." Dave comments and he can't help but notice the small smile that meets John's lips before being squashed by Dirk turning and growling at Dave. John steps in between the two, and Dirks growling simply lowers to a murmur. Dave places a hand on John's shoulder and pushes him towards the couch.

"Dude, you're probably exhausted, get some more rest and then we'll do actual introductions without Dirk being an asshole, he's hungry." Dave pushes John down onto the cushions, and he gives a nod before curling up under the blanket there and quickly falling asleep.

Dave sighs and turns back to his brother, glaring behind the aviators. Dirk simply sighs and places his hand on Dave's shoulder, causing the younger one to growl.

"Admit it dude you like the guy."

Dave stares at him blankly before blushing and pushing him away. "What? Are you fucking serious Dirk?! Why – why would I like a freaking demon who's been one for less than a fucking day? I mean, c'mon bro, that's a little stupid don't you think?"

Dirk sighs again. "Dude, it's fucking obvious with the way you're looking at him. That and I'm pretty sure you've run into a lot of other humans that are on the brink of death and just ate them. This guy you've turn because of what, pity? I'm pretty sure that you've confused pity with a case of the love bite." Dave stares at him before stalking off to his room, his shoulders hunched and fists clenched at his sides.

"Don't deny your feelings bro!" Dirk calls before the show continues loudly.

"Fuck you!" Dave calls before slamming the door shut to his room shut, flopping down onto his bed with his head covered with a pillow.

Dave is pissed off, and he's pretty sure that Dirk is right.

Fuck.

**AN: I've made this a JohnDave fic now and I'm not ashamed. Also, this is basically the marking point for when I'm going to be updating a lot slower because my sleep schedule is out of weird and I need to focus on my grades in school, updates will only be coming out slower, this isn't going to be a hiatus!**


	9. Chapter 9 - Majjyks

_**AN:**_** In the beginning of this chapter there is a conversation over Pesterchum it is between Dirk and Rose (who share the same abbreviation through their Chumhandles) and the only way to tell the difference is through coloring, which cannot be done on this site. So, to make things simpler, please note this little 'guide' as to who is saying what.**

**TT will be **_**Rose Lalonde**_**.**

**tt will be **_**Dirk Strider**_**.**

**That is all.**

**Turning – Chapter 9 – Majjyks**

TT: Is there a reason as to why you are contacting me Dirk? Normally you would go to Roxy instead of me.

tt: Well that's true, but I'm easily goin to assume that my sister is drunk and come straight to you. I'm hopin that you'll be willing to listen.

TT: There is a reason why the word 'Therapist' is in my chumhandle, Dirk; I am willing to listen to anything you have to offer.

tt: Okay, so, I've been trying to get into contact with Dave for the past hour or so and he hasn't done jack shit with trying to respond. I was kind of hopin that you'd be willing to shed some light on my current problem, seein as he talks to you more than me.

TT: Well, it could just be the fact that he simply doesn't wish to talk to you, or it could be that he has a newly turned demon in his house and is trying to 'show him the ropes.

tt: What.

TT: Oh, right, he probably wouldn't have told you that due to your conflicting morals.

TT: Anyways, the apparently short abbreviation of Dave's story is that he found a human dying and decided to save him by turning him. Though, I believe that it might have been for other reasons besides pity. I believe it might be for the same reason as to why I have feelings for the hunter Kanaya.

TT: Dirk, have you wandered off?

timeausTestified ceased pestering tentacleTherapist.

TT: Well, that answers my question.

Oh, now who is this girl? She sighs as she closes her laptop, the room almost immediately darkening and the rain pattering against the window provided as a welcome distraction to the headache coming on. The teen is a demon, violent purple eyes glare at her door as a loud bang comes from downstairs, probably from her drunken sister. Yes, this is Rose Lalonde, the brother of Dave Strider.

She sighs and stands up, moving towards her door and opening it slowly, peering down the dark halls for her sister, or her mother. She doesn't want to interact with either of them; she simply wants to head to the observatory for no less than five minutes. She creeps down the halls, her knitting needles moving restlessly in her fingers, slightly charged with electricity ranging from a violent purple to a soothing gold that's sparking off of the tips.

She makes it to the door leading upwards, twisting the handle only to find that the door is locked. She lets out an irritated groan and backs away from the lock, holding up one of her needles and letting the electricity spark freely. She concentrates on the metallic nuisance that is keeping her from her goal, and the edges of her vision taint black before turning stark white and the electrical current zaps the lock, breaking it, and freeing the door.

Rose lets out a breath she had been holding, nearly dropping her needles in gratitude, before brushing some white hair out of her eyes and taking the first few tentative steps and opens the door, heading up the long curling flight of stairs. She knew that her mother would become upset at the fact that she had broken another lock, opening the observatory that she didn't want them to enter, and there was no doubt in her mind that she would be punished for it later, but at this point she didn't care.

She had to see what would happen.

Rose is in no way a high class demon but it's mainly caused by her family name. Rose is only 16, her sister 19 and her mother 32, and her family was known for being bought into the temptation of liquor and gins to relief them of the pain of hunting. Regardless, Rose so far has been able to resist the urge, but that doesn't mean that Rose has other ways of killing herself through simple actions.

The large metallic door at the top of the stairs creak open, and Rose slips in, quickly shutting the door behind her, the task taking a fair amount of strength. Rose turns and looks around the circular dome, the large telescope pointing towards the cloudy sky in the center, books about astronomy and theology scattered with dog-marked pages. Vials of organs and other obscenities litter the shelves hammered on the wall, along with pieces of rock, hard drives, and folders of targets and deceased demons.

Yes, while her family does poison themselves with alcohols, that doesn't mean that they were never smart. Rose and Roxy, before she became an alcoholic made sure to keep as many records and files as they could, going so far as to dissect humans to figure out easy weak points that only demons could possibly get to. The production had gone down ever since Roxy's 18th birthday, when she got her first bottle of beer, but they had made something incredible before the hangovers.

The Orb was what they called it. At first, only Roxy could use it, but after a while, Rose cracked the code to its mysterious powers. Using it allowed the user to see the future, albeit very vaguely, and allows the user to know what will happen, but they normally cannot interfere.

Roxy solely made it to see if she would become an alcoholic like their mother, and she described to Rose what it had felt like. "It was like a thousand voices whispering in my ear what would happen, and the visions only lasted a second, but they felt like a lifetime. Rose, promise me you will never use this as long as I am alive."

That's what she said, word for word, but the Roxy that was in her house wasn't her sister. To Rose, her sister was drowning in margarita, and she would use The Orb as many times as she would need. Her mother had found her one time, holding the orb, her eyes white and emitting light, and that's why she locked the observatory, to prevent Rose from killing herself with the Orb's influence.

Opening the case that contained the pure white orb, Rose grabbed it with shaking hands; she had been mentally scarred by some images, and began muttering the incantation in a hushed tone. Her eyes flicked to the door, seeing that it was still locked, she continued, her eyes now locked on the orb.

"Domine Deus, Salvator meus, qui regit orbem leto. In luce futura mea ostende mihi de futuro." Her vision turned white, parted only by tiny black tentacles that each held a fraction of the future. So many events away from her, it was dizzying, but she was looking for something specific.

"Dave, show me Dave." She says, and the world moves nearly at the speed of light, zooming towards one view point, and she knows that The Orb would never lead her wrong. He's pacing, the world moving at a brisk pace that goes back and forth, she can detect Dirk and Roxy and even herself nearby, but now she's confused. Why would it show her something that she will be present for?

Dave is distraught, and Dirk grabs his shoulders, trying to calm him down. She immediately hates that the visions don't relay any sound. Dave does something, and Dirk backs off, trying to not anger him farther.

Rose wants to see more, but a hair yank from the real world drags her forcefully out of her vision. She drops The Orb, and thankfully it doesn't break, and she's dragged by the hair down the stairs and into the living room, where her mother sits with a new bottle of tequila in her hand.

Rose can tell immediately that they're not drunk. Well… shit.

"What were you doing?" Well, maybe not her mother. Her voice was slurred and she swayed slightly on the couch, the bottle nearly falling out of her hands. Roxy lifts her up more and places her on the counter, prying open Rose's eyelids and holding up a flashlight. It hurts, badly, and Rose hisses out in pain, clawing at the source.

"How man- many times do I have to tell you not to use The Orb? I fuckin told you that you can't use it for as long as I'm still here." Roxy says, tripping up on her words, and Rose can tell that she's in the middle of a hangover. Rose hisses out again and throws out a fist aimed at Roxy's face. The older moves out of the way and her knuckle barely brush Roxy's face.

"You aren't my sister!" Rose shrieks, jumping off of the counter and running to the stairs that led to her room. "I lost my sister when she turned eighteen; you're just someone who took her place!" And the oak wood of her bedroom door closes with a slam. Rose slides down the wooden surface, tear streaming down her face. Fuck, this was not supposed to happen, fuck!

Rose lifts up her head, looking around her dark room before standing up, placing one of her hands on the wood behind her for support. She takes a calming breath before pushing off and moving over to one of the bookcases on the far wall. She looks at the spines of the books, thick leather with silk strands glued onto the insides for a built in bookmark, before picking out the oldest one. Pure black leather that seemed to radiate in darkness, binding pages of spells and enchantments that could make a normal demon go mad.

Needless to say, out of all the ancient tomes in the house, this was Rose's favorite to read in her pass time.

This, however, was not a past time for reading. Rose flips throughout the book, the pages turning nearly invisible from the speed they were moving, and finds the specific spell. The mixture of the dark ink and splotches of dark gold from moisture enchants the sixteen year old and her eyes slowly scan the spell before placing the book on her desk, making sure that it's open to the correct page.

She walks over to her desk, opening a drawer and taking out a small, heavy chest and a medium sized bag of a salt and sand mixture. Rose looks at the diagram on the page again before opening the bag and slowly pouring the contents into a pentagram and creating five small circles at the tips of the symbol. After checking the diagram on the page a second time, she places the bag to the side and opens the chest, revealing the multicolored gems inside.

She picks five stones, purple, blue, red, orange, and pink. She places each one in the smaller circles and makes sure that they haven't disturbed the sand, and then she moves back to the book. She lifts it up in one of her hands and moves towards the circle, standing in the center of it and lifting up one of her needles in her other hand, reciting the spell clearly, used to speaking in Latin.

"O di speculandi qui infra nos movet, qui iudicaturus est operibus nostris, et notat cogitationes." She speaks, her eyes scanning the ink and she imagines a factory in Houston that would be easy for her to hide out in until she would find a proper place. "Ego me in locum, ubi opus fuerit, et fames, et educ me perderem."

"No!" Screeches a voice from her door, distressed and worried. Rose looked up, and she takes in the green spirograph surrounding her body and her needle charged with green energy. Roxy leaps forwards and tackles her sister before the spirograph flashes pure white.

The sisters are nowhere to be found.

* * *

In Houston Texas in the middle of a factory sat a demon. He was exhausted; the earlier work from his hunt on a few drunk men had tuckered him out. He rolled his shoulder and winced, pain shooting up from his right shoulder. He hisses out and places his left hand over the torn muscle.

The floor below him lights up in a pure white light, and the demon lets out a startled noised before closing his eyes tightly. The light slowly dies down, and it takes a few minutes for his eyes to adjust. He peers down and holds his breath, a few strands of his purple dyed hair going in front of his eyes before he moves them out of the way with a puff of breath.

"What were you thinking?!" Screeches a girl, which is quickly followed by the sound of slap. "Yes, we had an argument, but that doesn't mean that you had to run away from the house! Where did you even send us?"

"Why should I tell you Roxy? I came here to get away from you and to see my brother, does it really matter that I decided to go without you?"

"It completely matters! I am your sister, Rose! We should at least be able to trust each other to the point where you can at least tell me that you're leaving."

The sound of an electrical charge follows those words, followed by a yelp of pain and a bitter laugh. "_I_ should trust _you_? I'm sorry _sister_, but even I know who I should trust, you are not one of those people." Another zap and yelp. "You have succumbed to the same thing our mother has. A glass of wine to help wake you up in the morning and through your hangovers, a bottle of gin to help your breakfast go down, cans upon cans of beer to last you through lunch and dinner, and a glass of tequila to end the day." A final zap, and there's no yelp this time. "No, Roxy, I'm afraid that I can't trust you."

"Rose please don't-"

"Don't what? Abandon you like you did with me? No, I'm going to hunt, and you are going to run back to New York. I don't want to see you here when I come back." There's the sound of footsteps and then a door opening before slamming shut.

There is complete and utter silence before there's the sound of sobbing. The Demon is half tempted to jump down from his hiding spot and comfort her, but he also knows that she'll rip him to shreds for eavesdropping.

He turns around, treading lightly on the metal platform before jumping forward, latching onto a windowsill before hoisting himself up and through it, landing in the concrete alley before taking off in a sprint.

Feferi will certainly want to hear of this.

* * *

**AN: English translation of any/all Latin used:**

'**Domine Deus, Salvator meus, qui regit orbem leto. In luce futura mea ostende mihi de futuro.' - My Lord, my Savior, the omniscient one who guides our world. Shed light on the future; show me what will happen away from my soul.**

'**O di speculandi qui infra nos movet, qui iudicaturus est operibus nostris, et notat cogitationes.' -** **Oh Gods below us who watch our moves, who judge our actions, and notes our thoughts.**

'**Ego me in locum, ubi opus fuerit, et fames, et educ me perderem.' - Bring me to the place I seek, the place where I need to be, to bring out my own destruction and hunger.**


End file.
